Title: Project R (1)
Author: Yih
Written: February 2000
Dedication: (Reviewers of Christmas Reflections) Grasshopper aka cynnicle boo, Xandra_04 (sorry about using your character), meg, Sarge, Hydra, mara, Time Girl, Heather, sassafras, Anika, Jennifer, meg (again, got a note for you at the bottom), and unknown soldier.
Disclaimer: All rights are Eglee and Cameron, except for ACC- mommy and dada.
What if Max didn't
know she was a genetically enhanced human?
What if she had a
happy life?
She had a loving
mommy. She had a caring dada.
She had a
boyfriend.
What if it all
that were real?
This is that story…
She always knew she was different.
She just hadn't known precisely why.
All she ever knew was a life of continuous moving. It took more than her two hands to count how many times they had moved before she was five. It took more than her two hands and two feet to put a number on the numerous times her family moved. She never had time to get to know the kid next door before they had to pack up and leave. She had lived everywhere, even in Canada, but somehow they never found the perfect spot to settle down and stay. But she knew it wasn't the house or even the people. It was her.
There was something about her that was different. Her mommy was always more protective of her than she observed from other parents with their children. She often wondered why if she was one minute late getting out from school that her mom would go into panic attacks and start screaming her name. She figured it was anxiety from the new school. But after moving a few times, she knew it wasn't the locationg. It had to be her.
She was the reason they moved to often.
She knew it was her, and she finally had found something that affirmed it. She heard something she knew she wasn't suppose to hear. She was upstairs in her room, but her mommy hadn't bothered to whisper, assuming that she was asleep up in her room. She listened to the entire exchange between her mommy and her dada. She knew it was the first time they had talked in the house. They normally went out of the house. But not tonight.
She never needed much rest, so she knew when they went outside to do whatever her parents needed to do outside. But they had just moved into this new town and there was no backyard for them to converse. They had to resort to indoor conversation for the whole two months they lived in this city. She managed to pick up enough of those late night talks to know this:
They worried about her finding about the reason.
Her dada wasn't her real father.
They discussed when they should start packing up again.
And something about moving before Manticore found where they were.
She didn't worry about it too long. She forced herself to sleep like the children she saw on the T.V. She just wanted to be a normal child. She didn't want to be an outcast like she was in school. And more than anything else, she loved her parents and believed whatever they did, the would keep her safe. She loved them.
The morning was a fading orange when she awoke from the gentle shake from her mom's hand. She opened her eyes with an eery awareness that something was about to happen. She sat up in her bed and gazed at her mommy.
"Honey, we have to leave, now."
She knew it wasn't to go to school.
Then the Pulse came. It fried out all the computers and turned the United States into a third world country, overnight. Her parents' lost their jobs. But it was easier for them to hide from Manticore. They had been successful for eight years. Now it became just that much easier for their beloved daughter to lead a normal life…
"What do you mean they escaped again? I thought I made it damn clear that another glitch would be unacceptable! I can't believe it has taken us this many years to track a woman and a baby girl! She hasn't had any special training, so care to explain your incompetence?" Lydecker asked with his sharp eyes focused on the nervous informant.
The scientist who had come to deliver the news had known this wouldn't be easy explaining another failure. He really wished he hadn't been the one to draw the straw. But he just had to admit, he was an unlucky soul to have to deal with Lydecker. "We are trying our best, sir. We aren't just dealing with a woman and her daughter, she has a husband. And her husband may be well connected."
"You don't know?" sneered Lydecker. "You're suppose to know everything about everyone. It's what I paid you to do, and if you can't do it, you'd better get out quick. I can't stand incompetent fools! Now, since we can't seem to resolve this problems, let's discuss the missing girl's group, the X-5's."
"What about them, sir?" queried the scientist, relieved that the topic of failure was being dropped.
"X-5z a.k.a. Zach is doing the best. I want him to start making the plans. He's been doing leadership roles for a long while. I admit that he's born to be the C.O. But the problem is he needs a second-in-command and none of the others have shown themselves worthy of the position. I'll be blunt, of Zane and Jhondy, who do you think is more capable?"
The scientist gulped. He hated being put on the spot like this. If this job didn't pay so well, he would never had considered working as a scientist in this sort of experiment. He finally said with hesitation in his voice, "Zane is a male, and he's stronger than Jhondy. With Zach as the C.O., Zane really don't need to do anything except be there in case Zach needs help. Zach's pretty capable, sir."
Lydecker nodded as the scientist sighed with relief. "That was precisely what I was thinking."
The scientist was so relieved that he put in his two cents, "X-5 is the best group we have ever had, sir."
"I know that," Lydecker said coldly. "That's why I want X-5m found immediately, do you understand me? She's out there somewhere! Find her or else you'll have hell to pay if you come up with another way to fail this plan!"
The scientist would have liked to remind Lydecker that he wasn't the one running the military project to find X-5m. But if he did, he probably would be dead. Lydecker was always irrational when anyone talked about the failure to find the mother and child that had escaped from Manticore's clutches. It was a sore subject for Lydecker, and the scientist didn't know why. Everyone makes mistakes, once and awhile, was his theory on things.
Once the scientist left the room, Lydecker stared at the video of how X-5m's carrier, her mother, escaped from the Manticore's compound. He didn't know how she managed it to do it alone, but she had a feeling that child in her was special. It had to be the child, there was no other reason how she could have escaped. He wanted that child. That child, that girl would make the perfect second-in-command for his precious Zach.
Side Note: I just editted a small part of this story with a correction.
Author's Note: This is just the beginning of my first original series. And for all you complainers of Zach+Max, it's not like they're related! Besides they haven't seen each other in over 10 years, so quit saying it's disgusting. I support either relationships for Max, Logan or Zach. Whatever makes the gurl happy =). And review if you want anymore of this!
Note to Reflection Readers: A new chunk may or may not come out. I really don't know. Ask for it if you want it, but if I do do it, it will be modeled like the first Reflections.
Note to meg: You reviewed it twice! Lol, I guess you like it. I don't know if more is on the way, as you can see above I'm debating. My reviewing isn't very strong right now and that's probably because I'm not writing that great. (don't say often because you have to see me write for my Japanese Animes, ^_^) Thank you!
Remember: Reviewing is Doing the Giving to Caring authors Slaving over Working on Writing fanfics!